Hamilton new boy Reghan Tumilty found out the grass is not always greener on the other side of the border after his spell at Hartlepool.

When the 25-year-old defender joined the League Two club from Raith Rovers last summer a video emerged of him talking about Scottish football and saying, “It’s almost boring up there, playing the same other nine teams.”

Tumilty made 24 appearances for Pools, scoring one goal, before returning to Scotland where he joined Championship bottom side Accies earlier in the week.

Ahead of the Scottish Cup fifth-round tie against Hearts on Friday night, he explained his comments about the Scottish game.

The former Ross County and Morton player said: “So, let me address this. The guy has obviously cut that clip brilliantly.

“But for me, and I think people can understand where I am coming from, if you had a bigger league in Scotland, say 18 teams, I think that is something fans would enjoy.

“I know there is a pyramid system but for me I wanted to test myself and I tested myself and I think I am proud of what I (have) done down there and coming back up here to what I know.

“All I knew was Scottish football, so going down there and seeing different places – I mean the bus journeys weren’t great, sitting on a bus for 10 hours.

“For Crawley, we went on the bus from Hartlepool all the way to Luton, stayed in a hotel, then drove around the M25 to half an hour from Crawley, had my food at the hotel there, was half-asleep when I got on the bus again and then drove to Crawley then obviously back to Hartlepool.

“It was long. I bought myself an iPad and watched a lot of Netflix. It was the coldest day ever but we won 2-0.

“I learned to become more physical in tackling. Down there, everyone is definitely a giant, bigger and faster.

“I have taken lots of little bits from there. It didn’t go the way I wanted it to go but I have learned a lot, and in my life as well.”